Letters: Fluoridation furor continues over Portland effort (poll)

View full sizeRoss William Hamilton/The OregonianChina Starshine made his feelings known outside of City Hall, where the Portland City Council opened public testimony on city Commissioner Randy Leonard's plan to fluoridate the area's drinking water on Sept. 6.

Readers continue to respond, both pro and con, to efforts to fluoridate Portland’s public water supply. Here are a few of the letters we received over the weekend.

After six hours waiting at the Portland City Council public hearing on fluoride on Thursday, Sept. 6 I abandoned my opportunity to testify. I wished to advocate for a "yes" vote that would bring fluoride to the kids living in Rockwood and Gresham, where too many are struggling with unmet health needs.

My hours were not wasted, however. I gained new respect for our mayor and commissioners, who listened politely and attentively and who had obviously done their homework on this issue. There was an impressive array of medical experts and out-in-the-field dental professionals urging approval. There was passionate and sincere opposition in great numbers, too.

The remark that I found the most compelling was to the effect that piling up anecdotes does not lead to the truth. The opposition to fluoride in our drinking water overwhelmingly is based on anecdotes. I am confident that our civic leaders will vote to make our wonderful Bull Run water even better for the community with the addition of fluoride.

Tooth decay is a problem with enormous costs calculated in pain, expense and compromised health. Expending scarce resources to fluoridate water that washes, launders, irrigates, and otherwise doesn't make it into peoples' mouths, doesn't make sense.

Perhaps an agreement could be reached with Oregon's Opal Springs Water to produce a fluoridated bottled water for purchase. With creative collaboration, schools can provide it with the breakfasts or lunches they're already serving, or install the popular new refill stations (for personal cups and water bottles), which would limit additional plastic waste.

Making fluoride easy to get through existing distribution systems (water coolers, retail stores, school meal programs, food banks, soup kitchens, shelters, etc.) could help Oregon's families achieve significant savings (in pain, expense and poor health) and support a local business without sending dollars, literally, down the sewers.

KATH GOLDING McMinnville

I'm not against fluoride to help teeth. What I'm against is putting in the water and forcing everyone to drink it. Bull Run is one of the best, purist sources of water left in America, and to put something in it just does not add up. If Randy Leonard and whoever else is for it, really cared about children's teeth they could set up a fluoride program to deliver the fluoride to parents who want their children to have it -- probably for the same or less cost. There should be some sort of fluoride faucet so you can add fluoride to deliver it to people who want it. The way Leonard and company are trying to hurry and push this through is suspicious at best.

It looks like the fluoride lobby at work. Why else would they try to stop a vote? Let the people vote.